Roger Daltrey (left) and Pete Townsend of The Who re-create their classic 1973 rock opera “Quadrophenia” last night at Barclays Center.Dave Allocca/Starpix

Roger Daltrey (left) and Pete Townsend of The Who re-create their classic 1973 rock opera “Quadrophenia” last night at Barclays Center. (Dave Allocca/Starpix)

Any unwitting soul who walked into the Barclays Center last night may well have thought they were walking into some kind of AARP recruitment convention. Going by the average age of the fans attending The Who’s “Quadrophenia And More” show, the band doesn’t appear to have converted any new followers since the early 1980s. And judging by the rancid smell of weed floating around the arena throughout the night, some of those fans have held on to their stash since then, too.

But age hasn’t impeded the ability of Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend in communicating the angst of youth. If anything, it may have enhanced it, for the front-to-back performance of their visionary 1973 rock opera had the sort of masterly feel that only 40 years of practice can achieve. Backed with an eight-piece band and numerous projections of both themselves and Britain in swinging days of yore, The Who recreated the intricacy of tracks such as the brass-studded “The Dirty Jobs” superbly, but switched gears to bring home the emotional desperation of “Helpless Dancer” with just as much authority. Those schizophrenic swings and roundabouts experienced by the album’s protagonist Jimmy were exactly what Townshend intended to capture with the music of “Quadrophenia,” and they lost little of their dramatic impact when echoing around Barclays Center. Given that the concept album has made a resurgence in rock over the last few years thanks to bands such as Green Day (whose “American Idiot” album even cribbed the name of one of its central characters from “Quadrophenia”), it seemed strange that there was such a dearth of younger fans to witness one of the great rock opera set-texts in person.

There was an undeniable sense that The Who were here to lionize themselves and bask in their own achievements. For most of the set, Daltrey and Townshend seemed aloof and distant, barely addressing the crowd. But Brooklyn seemed happy to hear music history played out in front of them, not least when some past masters on the subject reappeared. Throughout the show, The Who paid tribute to their fallen drummer Keith Moon and late bassist John Entwistle through their backdrops. Moon’s charismatic figure seemed to appear every few minutes, but Entwistle got his own specific tribute when footage and audio of him playing a staggering bass solo was worked seamlessly into a monster version of “5:15”. Anyone could trash a hotel room like Moon, but this was an homage that proved no one could quite play the bass like Entwistle.

After rounding off the main set with a soaring “Love Reign o’er Me,” a more jocular version of the band emerged to play a lean encore of hits including “Who Are You,” “Pinball Wizard,” and of course, a booming rendition of “Baba O’Riley.” Yep, that’s right, thousands of aging baby boomers singing Townshend’s anthem of teenage desolation. Sometimes, the kids just don’t understand.